Dumped cats supported

Feline lover and photographer Jody Hushard-Vannorden is tackling the
province's feral-cat-colony problem by asking photographers to post
images of homeless cats to her Facebook group, "Dumped cats of Nova
Scotia."

The Shelburne resident is trying to raise $2,000 for her local
animal-welfare organization, PET Projects. Haligonians concerned about
this city's feral-cat problem could take a page out of this Shelburne
group's book. Pet Projects is a volunteer- and donation-based
organization which launched a trap/neuter/release pilot program to
humanely control the population of Shelburne's cat-colonies. The pilot,
says the group, has proven successful.

Dartmouth councillor Jim Smith is asking that HRM take a look at
sponsoring a city-wide trap/neuter/release program. Thanks to the 2007
cat bylaw fiasco, there's much resistance to the city doing anything
that has anything to do with cats but, as Shelburne demonstrates,
trap/neuter/release programs have a proven track record. Whether HRM
can afford such a program is another question.

Cat colonies exist partly because owners don't spay or neuter their
cats and later can't be bothered to find homes for their cats when they
move. Left to their own devices, domesticated cats often freeze or
starve to death.

"These animals are coming out of the comfort of a home, they're
thrown out of a car and there's nobody there to feed them," explains
Hushard-Vannorden.

The former SPCA worker describes photographing the cat colonies as
"kind of disturbing," as this is the worst she's ever seen the
cat-dumping problem. To Hushard-Vannorden, the key to solving the
feral-cat problem lies in creating mobile spay-and-neuter clinics and
increasing government funding to Nova Scotia's SPCAs and animal welfare
groups.

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